Serendipity is commonly thought of as an event of destiny. In the shamanic world of the Amazon and the Andes, they think of it as synchronicity, which is a great word that blends rationale with mysticism. They believe that there is a force guiding the development of our world, and it is our purpose to become in tune or in sync with that force. There is even an anatomical hypothesis to this. The sensor is our heart, using it to pick up the synchronicity events when they happen, which sends the appropriate signal to our minds to recognize it and do something with it… to remember it, to have it mean something in your life, to build a story, to contribute to building a sustainable world. Sure this sounds very fairy tale, but what if it is the simple truth?

The question everyone will have is, if this is real, then how do you get in touch with it, how do you feel it, how do you recognize it? The answer begins with a cleanse. We dampen our ability to feel and recognize this signal through so many things. Our food supply fills us with so much degrading substance, whether it be synthetic chemical pesticides or preservatives. More importantly, we constantly fill our head with unhealthy thoughts and then reinforce that chaotic circuitry by repeatedly thinking the same things.  We attach ourselves to create a false sense of permanence… to stuff, materials, relationships, an exterior god… and we develop a fear of losing these things. You have to cleanse this all away, let it all go, and get to the core, to the source. It’s only when you let all this stuff go that you can sense the guiding synchronicity that surrounds you. You won’t question the next step, you won’t regret. You’ll be filled with wonder as you experience the serendipity of your life.

The meditative practices of the East are very enlightened at this, however it is the shamanic ceremonies of South America that are driven by an inescapable practical magnetism… a drink with a sonic complement that brings forth a powerful cleanse. A loss of control and a cleanse of mind body and soul. Think of yourself as an instrument that needs to be tuned, and this ceremony is the tuner. The goal is obviously to be able to tune yourself, but everyone needs some help in the beginning.

Check more into these ceremonies if you’re interested. Ayahuasca is the name of the drink which drives the ceremony. It is important to be ready, but I’m guessing if you’ve read this far, then you’re on your way.

1. Create ideas that can benefit the world.

2. Perform services for companies in a variety of industries in order to understand real challenges

3. Provide valuable advice that others can use to make important decisions

4. Incubate organizations

5. Help people grow

This has been the purpose of the GrapeThinking think tank for the past 4 years. It wasn’t really understood until now. We worked on a variety of companies and developed a variety of products, but the greatest asset is still our thinking and how that can impact the world.

There are more and more health studies piling up showing the powerful effects of Resveratrol. As we noted over 3 years ago (The Human Elixir), there are companies, such as Sirtris, in existence specifically to synthesize this molecule into an anti-aging drug. Supposedly Resveratrol helps the production of more efficient mitochondria, whereas most antioxidants only neutralize free radicals in the system. This is like creating a more efficient engine that pollutes less vs. sequestering carbon. Beyond this, there have been numerous tests showing Resveratrol’s ability to kill forms of cancer, help with caloric restriction, increase life expectancy through diminished probability of contracting diseases like Alzheimer’s and diabetes, and many say it is the reason for the famous French Paradox. As a result of all this press and consumer awareness, the market is flooding with Resveratrol pills and supplements, claiming to extend life and end all ailments.

However, interestingly enough, there is evidence that suggests that it is not the Resveratrol that gives red wine its health benefits…

There is supposedly such a small quantity of Resveratrol in red wine that it couldn’t have any type of significant impact, not to mention that the bio-availability is even smaller, meaning that most of the Resveratrol consumed is not absorbed into the blood stream. So where do the health benefits come from?

Roger Corder, professor of experimental therapeutics at the William Harvey Research Institute in London, has been studying the health benefits of red wine for 15 years and has written an interesting read called The Red Wine Diet. He proposes that it is not the Resveratrol, or even the anti-oxidants or alcohol that give red wine its magical benefits, but rather another set of special molecules called procyanidins. These procyanidins are showing to be powerful inhibitors of Endothelin-1, which is known to constrict blood vessels and lead to a build up of artherosclerotic plaque. Thus, a consistent diet of procyanidins will keep your body clean and functioning well. Most importantly, it is found that certain red wines produced from grapes grown in certain natural environmental conditions contain enough procyanidin to give you the powerful health benefits (such as those outlined in the French Paradox) in only 1 or 2 glasses of wine a day!

This is fantastic research continuing our alchemical pursuit of the elixir of life… and remember, it isn’t about living forever, it’s about living well. More research to come…

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However, it is a constant struggle because of bills like the House Resolution 5034, which if passed will shut down direct to consumer shipping of wine. All the big wholesalers are supporting this, obviously because they sense the system recognizing their lack of real value in the supply chain. Thus, it keeps them in control and keeps all the margin in their pockets. They say its for safety reasons to prevent kids from buying alcohol, but we all know that’s absurd. How many underage kids are buying wine online? Yeah, the big wholesalers just genuinely care about the health and safety of people… I guess that’s why they are pioneering research proving the health effects of red wine and promoting healthy moderate drinking habits to maximize the health benefits. Oh wait, they’re not?

Free The Grapes is doing great things to maintain and further open the direct to consumer channels.  Check them out and support their cause to help the direct channel open up.

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My facts aren’t quite right in the video. Click below to get the full spec on their setup.

It turns out they’re currently generating about 30% of their energy needs from the solar install. However, they plan to keep installing until they are at 100% and beyond. Interestingly enough, Steve Shepard, the RayLen vitner, told us the cost of the installation was approximately $70,000, but they received a $40,000 tax credit from the government. Furthermore, the energy that they sell back to the local utility company pays approximately $0.28/kWh, whereas they only pay $0.09/kWh for what they use. That seems like a promising deal, and if they continue, they could potentially have a ‘rivaling revenue source’ to the incredible juice that they produce and sell. I highly recommend tasting the Eagle’s Select and the Carolinius (both red blends) if you get a chance to visit.

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2009 Resolution

1) Promote a lifestyle of nature and technology that enhances happiness and connects people with their environment and community.

Evangelizing every moment… connect to the source

2) Build a balanced global group of grapethinkers to share ideas and discuss global issues and events, while sipping a little vino for inspiration.

For sure, some new grapethinkers:

Linda Constantino, amazing painter and artist teaching illustrating the edible at SCAD

Alicia Griffiths, passionate artist in DC

Danielle Butler, vino lover and museum curator of Charleston

Jill Bentley, talented photographer capturing nature’s beauty

Franco Luisi, Italian negociant of Roma

Calvin Baldwin, event planner, organizer and new media marketing manager of RTP

Doug Fath, dynamic mentor and real estate developer of Philly

Lee Whitfield, designer and ecolist extraordinaire of Manchester

3) Continue to bring in clients that we can offer valuable services to, including marketing, technology development, and business development.

Worked with an amazingly diverse group of companies this year, providing consulting services, while continuing to learn and expand our vision:

Faithful Investments, Wealthy Passion, Sweet Spot Housing, KDM Global Partners, Lamprey Systems, SEER Interactive, Invite Media, Castelfeder Winery, Nistri Winery

4) Develop our first product, a global wine brand

This has been developed, but will be spun off under a new company that we incubated.

5) Think positive, stay focused, spread love

Always…

Cheers to all! Happy 2010!!

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Welcome to the first taste palace

Finally found one after two months in this country

Ill hit you with the pomengranates right off the bat… boom

Apricots, japanese medlar, peaches, pears, plums… apples down there

Vegetable garden, sangiovese vineyard, olive trees

They make their own wine, they make their own oil. They grow all their own vegetables

Cabbage, carrots, onions, tomatoes, squash, zucchini, peppers…herbs, basil, salvia, thyme, rosemary

Pretty much got it all nailed

Thats Antonio, he’s the son that owns the place

We’re right aside of Siena, everbody knows Siena, I’ll show it to ya real quick

There’s Siena… haha… this is it… there’s Siena

But again, so we’ve got wine, we’ve got olive oil, we’ve got every fruit you can imagine, even pomegranate. Vegetables, herbs.

The only thing missing is what? Energy, right? Solar

Generate all this produce to sell back to the grid, generate energy to sell back to the grid. Bring people here… tourism. And not some pretentious bullshit where they come here and say… it’s spiritual… you’re gonna feel it, and feel god, and all that.

Come here and just eat the food, just eat it. See the energy and see the money they make… because it’s alot.

That’s it… this is, this is it.

You start bringing these places, creating these praces, growing these places all over the world, and you’ve got a taste economy. You’ve got a transcendence from materialism back to a connection to nature becuase it makes people feel better, it makes them have more fun, it makes them more money, it makes the world healthier.

And it’s land too, so there’s all this space to generate energy from that thing (sun). So weird how this camera makes the center black. Anyways, there’s a lot of energy coming from that down into all this stuff (vines).

That’s it. The taste palace

Welcome… to taste

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My theory is he used his infinite curiosity as a feedback loop to direct his body, hands, and eyes to work and operate in a balanced fashion (ambidexterity), which resulted in greater structural and energetic harmony between the two sides of his mind. This allowed him to have clear and simple insights into innovation…. lol, I know. Just being there filled me with a type of inspirational energy I’d never felt before.

Odd Art Plaza outside of Museum

Vitruvian Man, the ESSENCE

Birthplace of Leonardo

There was a wedding in Da Vinci’s home the day we were there

Striking view from Da Vinci’s home

Full Moon on the ride home

Vitruvian Man in Vinci

The Vitruvian man

The essence of a human being

Practically you see he’s inside of a cube and a sphere at the same time

It was Da Vinci’s way of saying that the anatomy, the shape, the essence of a man, of a human , of a woman… is perfect.. it’s the essence of the universe… it’s the chiave, the key

It’s probably one of the most well recognized symbols in the world other than the Coca Cola brand

We are here in Vinci, Italia, which is the small town where obviously Leonardo Da Vinci was born and raised, and nurtured his genius

You see right here we’ve got the vigneto, the vineyard, and the olive trees

It’s what the locals here in Italia say is the key to their good health… olives and good wine

Leonardo’s Home

Now we’re at the house where Leonardo was born. We’re a couple kilometers outside of Vinci.

You’re probably wondering why… was Vinci, Leonardo Da Vinci, called Da Vinci. Da Vinci means from Vinci.

And it’s cause he was just kind of a common guy, kind of like a peasant I guess.

And he took his dad’s name. It was like Leonard Di Piero, I think… Ser Piero. Ser Piero Da Vinci… and then he just shortened it to Da Vinci… from Vinci.

See here are some gorgeous olive trees… I wonder if that had anything to do with his genius?

There’s his house right there.

Another really interesting thing, I mentioned ambidexterity earlier, was that he mainly actually wrote with his left hand. He was known like Michelangelo to switch, from his left hand to his right hand. Back and forth… kind of like that, ha.

Yeah, anyways, another interesting thing was that he actually wrote (some Italians are looking at me over there) he actually wrote from right to left, right to left… opposed to left to right. And he wrote backwards.

And they say it was so that he could disguise all of his major plans so they couldn’t read them.

I think it was because it exercised the other side of his mind… the right side… the creative side.

I don’t know… those are just a few facts. I’m here… this is the birthplace of the greatest genius in the history of our time.

Olive trees, ambidexterity, good wine… I tend to think it’s the simple things that converge into genius.

But who knows?

Ciao

Wedding

(Wedding cheers)

That’s pretty cool

We’re here at the house where Da Vinci was born.

The greatest genius in the history of humanity… LOL

Where he was born

And of course, we’ve got all the olive trees goin on down here

Lexus and the olive tree

Just had a wedding here

Full Moon

And on the way back from Vinci, we’ve got a little Luna Piena, piena? Luna Piena? (Si)

Luna Piena or Luna Nuda… full moon

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The sangiovese grape is the foundation fo the famous chianti wine from Toscana, Italia. There are said to be many alchemists in the hills of Tuscany brewing up life enhancinig elixirs with sangiovese as their base.

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